Side Hustle Pro

Side Hustle Pro spotlights bold black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business. Join Chief Side Hustler turned full-time entrepreneur Nicaila Matthews Okome for your weekly installment of Side Hustle Pro and learn actionable strategies to start small and get going–wherever and whoever you are. Side Hustle Pro features interviews with inspiring black women entrepreneurs including interviews with Myleik Teele of CurlBox, Lisa Price of Carol's Daughter, Nicole Walters of The Monetized Life, Maya Elious of Built to Impact, and more!

On this episode, I'm sharing the art of reaching out to potential collaborators, customers and clients via the cold email. While many of many of my guests are people I know or have met, 50% of the women I interview on my podcast were complete strangers before I reached out to them via email. In this episode I’m sharing the art of writing enticing cold emails that get responses. Here are some of my key tips:

Preparation

Do your research - Google, social media

Consider what’s in it forthem

Eliminate words like, “pick your brain” from your vocabulary

Keep a Google doc with your email templates and tweak for each individual outreach

Revise as you learn what works

Start a Template Document

Make sure every person you reach out to knows why you appreciate their work and the value the collab would bring

Be prepared to GIVE before you get

Make it EASY for them to collaborate. Propose dates and times (hello, Calendly!) and offer to work around their schedule.

At the age of 5, Denise Sarkor escaped the Liberian Civil War with family and lived as a refugee in Ivory Coast. Raised in a rough part of NJ by a determined mother, she would go on to graduate from The Wharton School on a full scholarship and obtain her Masters in International Finance and Economic Policy from Columbia University. Although entrepreneurship tugged at her heart, she took a safer path, working asan international banker and development consultant at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank.

But after a devastating divorce rocked her to the core, she became fearless. Realizing that Corporate America had led her to yet another glass ceiling, she finally made the leap.

On this episode, you’ll learn how she hit the ground running after quitting unexpectedly and how she’s navigating the twists and turns of starting her own business.

Topics discussed:

How she honed in on what services she should offer in her business and how she’s managing cash flow

The surprising move she’s willing to make to sustain her business

Self-publishing her first book and successfully fundraising on Kickstarter

Why Poet and Activist Nikki Giovanni wrote her a personal note of congratulations

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Side Hustle Pro has a buzzing Facebook group! Get the support you need to create and grow your side hustle in the welcoming Side Hustle Pro Community on Facebook. I’m continually impressed by the level of support and candid conversation happening in our community. Join us here: SideHustlePro.co/Mastermind

How did a former wedding planner turn her side hustle into a million dollar business? Today’s guest has the answer. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “bias for action” she is the epitome of that. When she thinks of an idea, she doesn’t just sit on it, she acts on it. She’s founded two successful businesses in her lifetime with no business degree and only education from the school of hard knocks. I’m talking about Vivian Kaye, the Founder and CEO of KinkyCurlyYaki, a successful natural hair extensions brand.

Known by fans as The Queen of Kank, Vivian founded KinkyCurlyYaki in 2012 to provide natural hair solutions for women who wanted the ease and flexibility of kinky curly hair extensions.

On this episode, you’ll learn how she got the idea and started her business from her living room and is now at the head of a soon to be million dollar brand.

Topics discussed:

How her Ghanaian upbringing influenced her entrepreneurial fire

Why she never felt the pressure to complete school to start a business

How getting laid off gave her the final push to dive into entrepreneurship full time

How she started two successful businesses from scratch

Balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood

Important Announcements:

Side Hustle Pro has a buzzing Facebook group! Get the support you need to create and grow your side hustle in the welcoming Side Hustle Pro Community on Facebook.SideHustlePro.co/Mastermind So much great convo and connection is already happening in there.

What’s it like to be a 13-year seasoned blogger in the age of Instagram and Snapchat Influencers?

On this episode I sit down for a conversation withLuvvie Ajayito talk Branding 101. Luvvie is is a writer, digital strategist and creator of entertainment and humor blogAwesomelyLuvvie.com. As a fellow writer and avid blogger, I’ve always been inspired by Luvvie’s journey to full-time entrepreneur. She started her blog after peer pressure from friends who recognized her talent. After starting as a casual blogger, she slowly increased to blogging more than once a week. Three years in, she was working a 9 to 5 then blogging from 7 to 9 like a true side hustler. Though she was getting paid zero dollars, her first blogging award in 2009 made her realize maybe she was on to something. The rest, as they say, is history. Now Luvvie is getting ready to debut her first book, calledI’M JUDGING YOU: The Do Better Manual, which is available on September 16 (or earlier if you pre-order).

FYI, I talked to Luvvie a few months ago for a Q&A before I launched my podcast. There we covered more of her background and how she got started. Check out part one here: then tune in to the episode.

On this episode we discuss:

Why you shouldn’t be so consumed with the idea of you being a brand

Why you need to be so good they can’t ignore you

How to make sure you’re prioritizing solid content over marketing

How to negotiate with brands once you get to that level

The real deal with how she approaches brand partnerships and her certified deal breakers